Year and Degree2013, BA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.

Abstract

The late 13th century Middle English romance, "King Horn" tells about a young English prince, Horn, who is ousted from his kingdom by Muslim pirates, called Saracens. The romance charts Horn's journey to reclaim the throne forcefully taken from him, a journey which involves bloody clashes with the Saracens. In the course of his battles Horn ruthlessly slaughters Saracens retreating from battle, and in the retaking of his kingdom, Suddene, Horn butchers Saracen soldiers and noncombatants indiscriminately. This raises the question, particularly for modern readers, as to whether Horn is acting as a proper Christian knight. Christian just war principles, first fully articulated by Augustine of Hippo, pled for restraint in warfare. The chivalric code of knights forbade them from harming women and children, and from cutting down retreating foes. Yet with the inception of the crusades in 1095, bloody warfare against Muslims became widely accepted. This thesis examines how the romance features a reconciliation between just war principles, chivalry, and the crusades into a unique synthesis that was widely accepted across medieval Western Europe at this time. This synthesis resolved the tensions between these three forms of warfare for most medieval Christians.